


we must open our hands

by kirani



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Canon? Don’t know her, Elemental Magic, First Meetings, Loneliness, M/M, Magic, Mutual Pining, Shapeshifting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-25
Updated: 2019-05-25
Packaged: 2020-03-17 01:13:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18954916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kirani/pseuds/kirani
Summary: “Shapeshifting? That’s rare. May I ask what kind of bird?”Kent smiled again, glad it hadn’t derailed the conversation. “A crow.”The man, Jack, hummed. “I would have taken you for something lighter. Smaller, maybe.”“Hey, is that a comment about my height?” Kent put a hand on his hip.“Haha, no,” Jack replied. “Just the feeling I get from your magic.”“Ah, an empath. Also rare.”Jack’s cheeks colored and Kent nearly melted. Handsome, magic, and shy? Adorable.~artbyCarys, thank you for allowing me to fic your beautiful piece!Thank you also to my amazing betas bigspicysenpai and Linnea





	we must open our hands

We know we cannot plant seeds with closed fists. To sow, we must open our hands.

\- Adolfo Perez Esquivel

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/75983667@N03/46960144845/in/dateposted-public/)

The first time Kent saw him, he was in the plant shop in the city. Kent was mumbling under his breath about the state of the seedlings when the man asked softly if he was alright. 

“Oh, yes, sorry,” Kent stammered back before looking up to meet the iciest blue eyes he’d ever seen. “I’m... fine.”

“Glad to hear it. You just seemed rather distressed.” The man gave him a smile and the corners of his eyes crinkled. 

He had dark hair which he wore swept to the side and shaved short on the sides. His jaw was sharp. A single dimple showed when he smiled. 

Kent felt his mouth go dry. 

“Hi.”

“Hi.” the man smiled. “I’m Jack.”

“Kent,” he replied, shaking the man’s hand in an automatic gesture. 

“Do you live nearby? I don’t think I’ve seen you in here before.”

“No, I just flew in,” Kent answered before cringing. He hadn’t meant to admit to flying.

“Wow, I bet your arms are tired.” Jack grinned.

“That was  _ bad _ ,” Kent groaned. “What are you, a dad?”

“Only in spirit.” Jack winked. “How long are you in town for?” 

“Oh, no, I live right outside of the city, I meant I flew in… as a bird.”

“Shapeshifting? That’s rare. May I ask what kind of bird?”

Kent smiled again, glad it hadn’t derailed the conversation. “A crow.”

The man, Jack, hummed. “I would have taken you for something lighter. Smaller, maybe.”

“Hey, is that a comment about my height?” Kent put a hand on his hip.

“Haha, no,” Jack replied. “Just the feeling I get from your magic.”

“Ah, an empath. Also rare.”

Jack’s cheeks colored and Kent nearly melted. Handsome, magic, and shy? Adorable.

“How about a coffee, empath?”

“I’d like that,” Jack ducked his head. “I’d like to hear more about your magic.”

“I’d like to tell you more about it.” Kent smirked. 

And so they abandoned their respective plant shopping and strolled down to a coffee shop. 

“I take it you live in the city?” Kent asked once they sat with mugs in front of them. 

Jack nodded. “Just a few blocks from here. I’ve never really grown anything before, but I’ve been wondering about local plants and think I could do well with those. I’ve got earth magic, but it’s very northern. Ice focused. My maman teases that I’m permafrost.”

He closed his mouth quickly as if he realized just how much he’d said. 

“Maman? Explains the accent.”

“Yeah, I’m from Montreal originally,” Jack confirmed, taking a sip of his coffee. “What about you? Air magic, I can tell.”

“That’s me. It focuses mostly on animals of the air. Hence the crow shape. I’ve always been really into plants, though. My parents thought my magic would be earth focused for the longest time.”

“There’s so much connection between birds and seeds, though. I see it.”

Kent nodded. “Yep, it’s why I like seedlings the best. Though they weren’t great today.”

“Do you usually buy them? I would have thought you’d grow your own,” Jack mused.

He shrugged. “It’s a mix. Mostly I came into the city to see what was around. Not like I can carry anything back as a crow anyways. But I like to see how others’ seeds are faring. Helps me help my own.”

“Ah, so you do grow your own. Do you sell them?”

Kent shook his head, taking a sip of his coffee as well. “They’re just for me. I work a lot of plant magic.”

Jack nodded and Kent watched him think. He was starting to get the idea that Jack was a bit like his seeds. He needed room to grow and time to himself. 

“Do you do this often?” Jack asked finally. 

“Fly into the city?”

“Ask strange men to have coffee,” he clarified. 

“Can’t say that I do,” Kent answered. He dated, sure, but he wasn’t in the habit of picking up men at the flower shop. 

“Oh?”

“You’re special, empath Jack.” he winked just to see the other man’s face color again. He wasn’t disappointed. 

They talked a while longer: Jack opening up more and more as the afternoon wore on, and Kent smiling more and more. 

By the time the sun was beginning to set, Kent had to admit that he liked this strange, quiet, earth magic man more than he expected. Kent had the typical air magic problems of flitting from relationship to relationship, never keen on settling, always wanting to be free and impulsive. But he was finding himself wanting to land and spend time on the ground. 

He was hesitant to leave, but he had to. He hated flying at night. 

Thankfully, Jack seemed to notice his checking of the sky and reached over for his hand. “I should let you get home before it gets dark.”

Kent sighed but smiled at him, lacing his fingers into Jack’s. “Only if you agree to do this again.”

Jack gave that little secret smiled again. “Yes.”

They exchanged numbers and soon they stood on the sidewalk, the space between them charged without empty coffee mugs and a comically small table occupying it. 

“I really do want to see you again,” Kent admitted, feeling laid bare to this practical stranger. 

“I do, too. I’ll text you. Soon.”

“Good,” Kent smiled, then leaned in, pressing up on his toes to capture Jack’s lips.

He kept it chaste — they were in public and he’d only just met the man — but the surge of magic he felt in the kiss made him feel like he was flying. 

“I’ll see you soon,” he murmured as he drew back.

“Soon,” Jack agreed.

Kent left one last kiss then eased his hand out of Jack’s where he had clung on when Kent kissed him. He stepped back, shifted into crow form, and flew for the city outskirts.

~

Jack’s magic fizzled excitedly under his skin his entire walk home. He couldn’t remember ever feeling this connected to someone this quickly. Sure, he’d been adopted by extroverts and gotten more comfortable with them over time — and he’d always been comfortable around his maman — but never had he felt this kind of connection with a potential romantic partner. 

And his magic was still singing. 

By the time he got home, he had to work a bit of magic just to dispel the pent up energy he’d been working himself up with the whole walk. 

He spent the evening excited and bouncing around from task to task. Eventually, he had to sit and talk himself down. He had a good time and tomorrow he would text Kent to set up a second date. That was all he should focus on for now. 

But by the next morning, Jack was doubting himself.

He stared at the text window from the day before with just two texts in it from their number exchange.

**Jack** : It’s Jack.

**Kent** : shoulda known you’d be a proper punctuation texter haha

All he could think of was Kent’s free laugh, his easy smile, his lithe form as he flew away after their date. He wanted so badly to be there with him, soaring on the drafts. But he would ruin it. 

He always did. 

Jack hadn’t ever had great experiences with dating. He’d dated a few people, but every time he started getting attached to someone they would leave, saying he was too much or too cold or too serious. If he was honest with himself, he knew the same thing would happen with this beautiful air magic man. 

Jack was an earth magic user, he was solid and unmoving. No air magic person wanted to be held down like that. And an air magic bird shapeshifter? Jack would freeze his very heart with his frost. 

Better to keep himself away. 

He closed the text app and set the phone down on the table, dressing for a run to clear his head. It was the only way he’d found that quieted his anxiety properly. 

Jack successfully ignored the Kent situation for a couple of days, before Kent texted him. 

**Kent:** lunch tomorrow?

Jack stared at it the text for several minutes before closing out the text and going for another run. If nothing else, his cardio was going great. 

Each morning, he woke with vague impressions of wind and flight. A lightness he’d never desired. A freedom he’d never deserved. 

He found himself missing Kent, despite only having met the man once. But it seemed his very magic reached out for him. For the first time in his life, he felt unmoored and indecisive and it was scaring him. 

Each day he worked to ground himself, to squash this new impulsive spirit he felt blooming inside. He meditated. He worked earth magic. He ran. Nothing worked. 

In his loneliest hours, he wondered about how easy Kent had been to talk to. How warm he had felt. He missed Kent’s laugh. He didn’t think it was possible to miss a laugh. 

But he regained his control each time before he gave in to his desire to call the other man. 

Instead, he called his Maman. 

“Jack! So good to hear from you,” she greeted. Jack could hear the smile in her voice. 

“Bonjour, Maman,” he returned. “I missed you.”

“I miss you, too,” she paused. “Is something the matter? You sound down.”

“Just lonely, I suppose. Nothing new.”

She made a noise down the line and Jack regretted his admission. 

“You know, you can always come home,” she offered. 

“I know. But I need to do this.”

“I know. Stubborn as your father.”

Jack huffed a laugh. “How are you two?”

He smiled as the sound of his mother’s voice washed over him. 

This was enough, wasn’t it? He was doing work he loved and his Maman always picked up the phone. He would find friends. He might even find a partner. He didn’t need to keep obsessing over Kent. Better to stay on the ground. 

Always better to stay on the ground. 

After he had filled her in on his own work and life, they hung up and Jack paced his apartment. 

He hadn’t mentioned Kent to her, but he was still at the forefront of his mind all evening and all through the next day. 

His fingers itched to pick up his phone and call him. Or to throw all caution to the wind and just drive out of town and find the man. 

After a week, he allowed himself a middle ground and went back to the plant shop and asked the employee there for beginner plant recommendations that would thrive in a colder climate. He had to keep some part of his permafrost, after all. 

At home, he cared for his new miniature cedar pine and thought of flying. Jack wished more than anything that he could let himself fly but he refused to hurt another person. 

So he remained alone.

~

Kent was trying not to think about the fact that Jack hadn’t texted him back. 

He had been alone plenty, this was no different. He was free to fly and wander and nurture his plants and who cared about the pretty earth magic man?

(Kent did, that’s who.)

They had hit it off so quickly he had let his defenses down and now he was paying the price. He had let himself be grounded — had  _ wanted _ to be grounded — and he didn’t even get a text back. 

He replayed everything he had said, what he had done, texted, eaten. Nothing explained the sudden rejection. Kent simply wasn’t worth remembering. 

He flitted from task to task, keeping himself busy but never quite happy. He let it go on much longer than he wanted to admit.

Jeff called after a few weeks of... Kent wouldn’t call it moping, but he also wouldn’t have said he was his normal, cheerful self. 

“Hey, man,” Kent greeted, forcing a smile into his voice. “What’s up?”

“Just hadn’t heard from you in a while, thought I’d call. Make sure you hadn’t flown off somewhere and forgotten about me,” Jeff teased. 

“Yeah, no, I’m around.” Kent shrugged.

“Kent? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, don’t worry about it, just feeling a bit off.”

There was a silence on the other end of the line for a moment. 

“I’m coming over,” Jeff announced. 

“Jeff, really, I’m fine.”

“Well, maybe I wanna see it for myself. Besides, I have a book of yours.”

Kent sighed. “Fine.”

He half-heartedly tidied his apartment while Jeff drove over, but he wasn’t too worried about it. Jeff had seen worse. 

Jeff greeted him with a tight hug, then held him at arm’s length and looked him over.

“Who broke your heart this time?”

Kent felt his cheeks heat as he shook his head. “Nobody broke my heart.”

“You break theirs, then? Probably for some stupidly noble reason? This is classic heartbreak Kent, don’t try to lie to me.”

Jeff sat on his couch as if he lived there, which he usually practically did, and patted the cushion next to him. Kent rolled his eyes but sat beside his best friend. 

“I met this guy at the plant shop in town,” he sighed. 

Jeff raised an eyebrow and motioned for him to continue. 

“We started talking, then we went for coffee, and it seemed like it was going really well, you know? But then he didn’t text me back.”

“Magic?”

Kent nodded. “Earth, focused in the north.”

“Did you kiss him?”

Kent felt himself blush again. “Just a little kiss goodbye. But the magic clicked. At least mine did. Maybe his didn’t.”

“You’ll find someone eventually,” Jeff promised, not for the first time.

“I know, I just thought I had. And it’s… it’s kinda grounded me a bit.”

“Grounded you?”

“Shifting has been hard. And, I don’t know, I just feel grounded. Not my usual impulsive self.”

“You only met the guy once?”

Kent nodded glumly. 

“That’s rough, bud.”

Kent nodded again, then slumped into his best friend.

“You sure you’re not even a little bit bi?” he looked up at Jeff. 

Jeff laughed. “Sorry, Kent. I’m unfortunately very heterosexual.”

Kent sighed. “Well, it’s rude. Jot that down.”

“Alright.” Jeff grinned at him. “Come on, up you get.”

“What?”

“We’re getting you out of this apartment.”

Kent groaned but let Jeff pull him off the couch. He shoved a hat on his head and let Jeff lead him from the apartment into the sunshine. 

Once outside, Kent stopped on the sidewalk and raised his face to the sky. 

“There you are,” Jeff teased. “Come on, you plant, let’s get lunch on a patio somewhere.”

Kent smiled, the first one that hadn’t felt forced since Jeff called, and followed his friend. 

So what if he wasn’t worth remembering to Jack? He had friends and he had the sun. This was enough. 

He would make it be enough. 

After Jeff left that night, in the emptiness of his apartment, he felt the loneliness descend again. 

He needed to do something more. His magic needed it if nothing else. 

The next morning he woke groggy from staying up late researching but checked down his list one last time before grabbing his bag, stepping onto his balcony, and shifting. 

He gripped the lightweight bag in his claws and sprang from the railing into the hills to collect his seeds. He ate his breakfast from the trees, sunning his wings as he sought the plants he wanted, thankful once again for his shape and his magic. 

By the time he returned home, he had a sack of seeds from the region and was bone tired. 

He dropped the seeds on his table and collapsed into bed, not bothering to check his phone. 

~

Jack stared at his phone. 

“Stupid,” he whispered to himself. 

He had waited too long and now Kent had given up on him. He had missed his chance. 

In his chest, his magic ached. 

On the screen, the text mocked him in the darkness. 

**Jack:** I’m sorry I didn’t text. I was afraid of how much I liked you. Let me make it up to you?

It had been unanswered for five hours. It would remain unanswered. 

He turned off the screen and went to sleep. 

In the morning, though, a single alert showed on his phone. 

Jack’s heart leapt into his throat as he opened the text, sent just twenty minutes earlier. 

**Kent:** What did you have in mind?

He grinned as he typed back. 

**Jack:** Let me take you to dinner? Anywhere you want.

He fidgeted as he waited for Kent to respond, picking at the hem of his shirt. 

**Kent:** ok

**Kent:** friday? that french place on main st?

**Jack:** I look forward to it.

He closed the app and set his phone down, allowing himself to smile. 

Jack had caved the day before, calling his best friend from home and spilling the entire story. How he had fallen so quickly for a stranger, how his magic reacted, how he had freaked out and closed off. 

But as he watched his new plant grow, he thought about the relationship between earth and sky, and how his magic had never steered him wrong before. 

“Brah, if your magic wants it, it can’t be bad, can it?”

“I’m not sure. I’ve never dated another magic user,” Jack had confessed. 

“Well, your magic liked me from the start, didn’t it?”

“Yeah, Shits, it did. And yours liked mine.”

“And we’re best friends!” Shitty exclaimed. “So clearly it knows what’s up.”

“Maybe you’re right.”

“Damn straight I am. Now go text the man!”

“Alright, alright, hang on, I’m putting you on speaker.”

Jack pulled the phone from his ear and changed the call to speaker, opening up his texting app.

“What do I say?”

“When did you say you last talked to him?”

“I texted him so he had my number the night we met. Then he texted about lunch a few days later. That was three weeks ago.”

“Jack, bro, you should have called me sooner,” Shitty sighed. “Okay, this is gonna take some emotions to fix.”

“Emotions? You know I’m no good at those.”

“That’s what you’re having right now, bro. That’s why we’re texting him. You just gotta explain them.”

Jack groaned. 

“Okay, start with an apology. You’re sorry you didn’t text. Then explain why. With real emotions, please.”

Jack started typing. “‘I’m sorry I didn’t text’,” he dictated as he wrote. “‘I was afraid…’ I dunno about this, Shitty.”

“You can do this. What were you afraid of?”

“How strong my reaction was. I met him  _ once _ .”

“Okay, so write that.”

“Okay, ‘I was afraid… of how much I liked you.’”

“Perfect! You’ve got this. Now close with asking him out.”

Jack chewed his lip, before typing again. “‘Let me make it up to you?’”

“Wonderful. Send it.”

Jack reread the short text again, then clicked the send button. “Okay, I did it.”

“Proud of you, bro.”

“Thanks, Shitty.”

And it had worked!

It was finally Friday, four entirely too long days having stretched between their texting and their date. Jack stared into his closet, fingers running along the various dress shirts. 

Eventually, he pulled out his phone and texted Shitty. 

**Jack:** What should I wear?

**Shitty:** Society demands clothes be worn in public, so I’d start there.

**Jack:** Not helpful.

**Shitty:** That pink button down really makes your eyes pop, bro

**Jack:** It’s not pink, it’s salmon.

**Shitty:** Whatever you say, bro. Put it on.

**Jack:** Fine.

He pulled the salmon button down from the closet and slipped it on. 

~

Kent fidgeted with his jacket as he waited outside the bistro. He still wondered if he had made the right call accepting the date after so long without a response, but his curiosity and the way his magic sung had gotten him this far, he would see it out. 

“Hi,” a voice said from behind him. Kent spun and took in the sight of Jack on the sidewalk. 

His hair was coiffed with more care than the last time he had seen him, a soft button down and a sport jacket hung easily from his shoulders, and his hands were clasped nervously in front of him. 

“Hi,” Kent returned. “You look good.”

Jack smiled shyly and ducked his head. “You look amazing,” he told the sidewalk. 

Kent grinned and stepped into Jack’s space. He rested his right hand on Jack’s bicep and kissed his cheek. Jack blushed but returned the cheek kiss on Kent’s other side, before gesturing towards the door. 

He nodded and let Jack open the door for him. 

The host greeted them and smoothly led them to a little table tucked into the side of the restaurant. 

“Thank you,” Kent smiled at her. 

Jack laid his napkin out in his lap and lifted his menu, reading it with a forced casual air. 

Kent stifled a laugh and picked up his own menu. 

“Have you been here before?” Kent asked.

Jack shook his head. 

“Not a fan of your own country’s food?”

Jack laughed, just a short exhalation. “I’m Quebecois, not French. The food is very different.”

“I stand corrected.”

“Also, I just don’t eat out much.”

“No?” 

“No one to go with.” Jack shrugged.

“Then I’m extra glad you texted. You deserve to go out and enjoy yourself.” He smiled at the other man. 

“I’ve only been in the city for a few months. I haven’t had a chance to meet people.”

“And when you do,” Kent said with a smirk, “you don’t text them back.”

Jack blushed again and dropped his eyes to his menu. “Sorry again.”

Kent shook his head. “You’re lucky you’re so pretty,” he teased.

“I was serious, you know,” Jack continued speaking to his menu. “I like you a lot. Seemed like too much.”

Kent opened his mouth to respond but their waiter arrived and Jack ordered them a bottle of wine with an easy smile. 

“I like you a lot, too,” Kent confessed when they were alone again. “My magic likes yours, too.”

“So does mine.” Jack smiled. “I’m just not used to being good for people. And I’m afraid I’ll hurt you.”

“I don’t think you have anything to worry about, given how much my magic is reaching out for yours.”

“Mine, too,” Jack agreed, reaching a hand across the table. Kent slipped his hand into Jack’s, listening to his magic sing at the touch. 

Kent squeezed his fingers then turned the conversation to their food choices, never removing his hand from Jack’s.

By the time they had finished their meal, Jack had opened up again and Kent found himself grinning constantly — as he had at their first coffee date. They had finished a bottle of wine between the two of them and Kent was pleasantly buzzed.

“Do you want to come back to my place?” Jack asked. “For a coffee?”

“I’d love to,” Kent agreed. 

As they walked back to Jack’s apartment, Kent slipped his hand back into Jack’s and leaned into the other man. 

“I’m glad you gave this a chance,” Kent murmured into the evening. 

“I’m glad you still agreed to go out with me,” Jack smiled back. 

“You’re special, empath Jack,” Kent echoed their first meeting. 

~

A few months later, Jack was curled up on Kent’s couch watching his boyfriend tend to his seedlings. 

“Are those the loneliness seeds?” he asked. 

Kent had mentioned that he had gone out collecting seeds that reminded him of Jack and his magic in an impulse to grow something from the connection. 

“Yeah,” Kent smiled at them. “They’re not lonely anymore, though. Look how happy they are together.”

Jack rose and joined him at the seedlings table, running his fingers over the tiny leaves and needles of the local plants. 

“They seem very happy.”

“They know we’re happy,” Kent murmured, leaning up to capture Jack’s lips in a kiss. 

“I don’t think that’s how plants work,” Jack mumbled against Kent’s lips. 

“Shh, they’re magic plants, they totally work like that.”

“Whatever you say, Kent.” Jack grinned, leaning down to kiss him again. 

He was so very happy, and he could feel Kent’s happiness radiating from him as well. 

Giving into that impulsive desire to leap into the air with this strange air magic man had been the best decision of his life. Kent pulled him to the sky, helped him embrace new things and feelings he hadn’t let himself have before. 

In return, he liked to think he kept Kent a bit more grounded, helping him keep with things and learn a bit of patience. 

They were good for each other, and their magics agreed. 

“Move in with me,” Kent whispered, looking up at Jack.

“What?”

“Move in with me,” Kent repeated. 

“Okay.” Jack grinned. “Yes.”

“Good.”

The next month saw Jack’s miniature pine settling into place among Kent’s multitude of plants, their lives intertwining as Jack and Kent’s did. 

Jack had never been happier. 

**Author's Note:**

> leave me a comment if you liked it?  
> i'm on [tumblr](http://willdexpoindexter.tumblr.com).


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